The State of Emergency - A Halo Story Prompt
by MDAM-FASEGold
Summary: A Halo Story Prompt by MDAM-FASEGold - 2016, a British radio telescope picks up a radiation blip in lunar orbit, over the course of next three days, the world stands still and watches the slow approach of an alien vessel. Heavily OC driven. Inspired by the Arrival trailers.
1. Discovery

**The State of Emergency**

C1:Discovery

 **28 September 2016 0644 hours (-2 21:22:37** **) (GMT) / Manchester Conference** **Center** **, Greater Manchester** **, England, United Kingdom**

Harry was shitting himself

He had sat down next to Jen, the both of them looked down at the scripts provided to them by the government officials as well as a few question answers. The lenses of many news stations row upon row of journalists sitting, pens and recorders all ready to record what he was about to say. He was at the edge of the table, looking completely out of place, in his work clothing while being on the same table as smartly dressed Government officials, including but not limited to _Mother Fucking Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, Northern Ireland, and its respective territories,_ Naomi Gordon, that and his boss, the head of Manchester Uni's School of Physics and Astronomy, Geoff Renolds. _Dick_.

The Prime Minister cleared her throat. "Ladies and Gentlemen, we are here to announce what is possibly the single most important and earth shattering shock to mankind in history. Last night, Dr. Harold Smith, as well as his two colleagues, a Dr. Jennifer Hammond and Micheal Cannon discovered a radiation anomaly in Lunar orbit. This 'blip' as the doctor has called it planning a high atmosphere insertion. If current estimates are to be followed, it will land in three days in the Irish Sea. Do not be alarmed, our models are showing a landing that is a slow and steady decent. The royal Navy has been deployed from HMNB Devonport and Clyde to meet whatever this is and to face it with extream caution." She took a sip of water. "Currently, all UK forces are being deployed and to the best of my knowledge all NATO and EU members are cooperating. So there is nothing to be worried about. Now my I pass on to Harold Smith, Doctor at the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics and team lead of the MERLIN."

Harry carefully pulled himself up. "Morning everyone." He sighed. "Yesterday evening, myself and my associate, Micheal Cannon, made contact."

 **27 September 2016 2343 hours (-3 3:23:45 till landing)(GMT) / Jodrell Bank Observatory, Lower Withington, England, United Kingdom**

"Come on you useless piece of shit," Micheal grunted, banging the side of the computer, "work already!"

"Don't break the bloody thing, Mike, it's worth more to this institution than some language undergrad. You're only here because it was the only janitorial that had anything cool going on with it. Speaking of which, have you even done your job?" Harry offered, tossing a chocolate covered peanut in the air and into his mouth.

"Number one, I didn't drop out, I was subtly kicked out by the Uni, turns out they can't take a joke, even by an A-grade student. And secondly my job is nearly done and I have till six in the morning to finish it." He said pointing his finger at the young physics doctor. "And for the record you want me here, or this job would be too boring otherwise. Sitting around, pointing the big ass dish towards the heavens waiting for a blip from a star or ET." He said

"Funny, should I add that to your list of qualities, next to complete dickhead, narcissistic arsehole, and Smart-Ass." He said, pinging a crumb from a bourbon cream off his white rolled up shirt. "Whats up with the machine anyway?"

"It suddenly started acting up, it picked up a large burst of radiation around the moon for about five seconds before dropping. Should I run a systems diagnostic?"

"Do you know how?" The Doctor asked, raising an eyebrow, but in return got a death stare. "File, system preferences, then press system diagnostic." He turned back to his computer. "While you do that, I'll look if there are any discrepancies. The guys at the other MERLIN sites are looking at the same spot anyway." He picked up the phone and typed in the number for the Pickmere RTC. The drones rang until it was finally picked up. "Yo Dave, I was wondering whether you could check up what the dish is picking up at eleven twenty-three this evening."

"Sure, one sec... You talking about the big blip around lunar orbit?"He asked, harry looked up at Mike who mouthed _No issues._

"Yeah, that one... Any ideas?"

"Glitch?"

"Mi..." He nearly slipped "diagnostic says all is green, no problem, cheers for the help Dave."

"Ciao." The line cut.

"Sooo. No glitch?" Mike smiled.

Harry's eyes were filled with curiosity. "Isn't this exciting?" He began plugging in another number. "Time for a clearer look." Two drones and a Click.

"Surry Satellite Technology Limited, Jennifer Hammond speaking."

"Jen, it's Harry. We hit something big, real big."

"How big?"

"Big, Big."

"And definitely not a glitch."

"We checked, diagnostic and all." You could almost see the glee radiating off the doctor.

"DMC-3 is currently over the Atlantic, you can borrow her for a while, may I ask what for?" He could hear her type on the other end of the phone.

"We got a radiation blip, five seconds, give or take, in lunar orbit." He said, sticking the phone on speaker.

"Cool, I am just turning the satellite now." She said as Harry opened up a window on his computer, and typed in his ID and password. Mike had picked up his cup of tea and walked around to look at the feed. "You have control."

"Thank you, Jen." Harry began to zoom into the area of interest, looking for anything out of the ordinary. Mike pointed at the screen, noting a slight purple fleck on the screen.

"Long expose that." He said taking a sip from his tea as the layers of pictures built and built, the picture becoming more and clearer. "What the fuck is that?" He leaned int, as much as that would have Harry annoyed any other day, this event was taking up much of his attention.

"Holy shit..." Jen said, getting a slow feed through her own computer. "Is that what I think it is?"

"It can be," Harry said. "Mike, keep an eye on that. I need to do something real quick." He pushed his wheelie chair across to another computer and began to mutter to himself as he typed away. "Frequency... 1420.405751786 MHz... Prime Number Bursts... There."

"Mike, aren't you supposed to be working?" Jen said off hand.

"Shut up Jen. Like hell would I miss this."

Harry threw his arms up. "And it is sending. He said pushing himself back over to Mike. "Now we wait."

"I'll stick the kettle on," Mike said crossing the room and began to prep to cups of tea.

Harry waved him off and sat down at the slowly rendering image of the unidentified foreign object. Whatever it was, it was HUGE. It was quite easily about five kilometers long, or a quarter the _Length_ of Manhattan and was producing a large amount of heat in patchy locations like it had been destroyed and exposed by something natural. It had an odd, bulbous shape to it, like some sort of whale. But its size wasn't what was worrying.

He was removed from his thoughts immediately as a cup was placed down next to him. "Milk, two sugar."

"Thanks... Jen you still there."

"Yes."

"Note how quickly that thing is heading towards Earth." He asked rhetorically. "I that thing is going to hit the atmosphere in three days."

Mike just stood there, not quite sure what to think, after all, something that big at that speed could kill a load of people. Took a sip of his tea. Frowning slightly into the cup. _A little too much sugar._ He walked over to the receiver console and bent over to meet the screen. "one hundred and one, one hundred and three, one hundred and seven, one hundred and nine, one hundred and thirteen.. Holy crap."

 **28 September 2016 0600 hours (-2 21:53:34)(GMT) / BBC Televisi** **on Center** **, Lond** **on** **, England, United Kingdom**

"This is the BBC Breakfast Show on Friday the twenty-eighth of September two thousand and sixteen. I am your host Alexander Henderson."

"And I am Holly Peterson."

"Today we are doing things slightly different as a surprise press conference was launched yesterday by the UK Space Agency, the Univerity of Manchester and Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. Live from Manchester, we have Patrick McAlister." The screen changed to show a middle-aged man with black hair standing outside the Manchester Conference Centre. "Whats rumors have been going around the news staff and has any information been released."

"Good morning Patrick, good morning Lousie and good morning our viewers. There has been a lot of speculation but no data has been released, but the fact that the Prime Minister, the Secretary of State for Defence, the director of the UK's Defence Science and Technology Laboratory and the Director of the Government Office of Science have all suspended what they have had planned for the entire week, as well as the heads of SST and the UKSA being both here today, we believe we have some very interesting details here tonight."

"Do you have any other information in regards to what's going on."

"Yes we do, the UK may be the first country to launch a surprise press conference, but all G20 countries and a few others such as Chile have followed suit, but all are waiting for the UK to speak out first. Whatever is happening, it is Huge."

 **28 September 2016 0646 hours (-2 21:29:32** **)(GMT) / Manchester Conference** **Center** **, Greater Manchester** **, England, United Kingdom**

"...made Contact." He said the room went still. "And I strongly believe it is intelligent and it recognises that we are too. I asked for the use of the UK-DMC-3, or United Kingdoms Disaster Monitoring Constellation Three, as it was, at the time, over the Atlantic and unofficially gained control to check up on this blip due to diagnostics coming up green as well as the other MERLIN sites showing the same result. This is what the satellite captured." The coat of arms with the logos of the Government, Manchester Uni, and SST was replaced with the purple-blue shape of the craft. "This, ladies and gentlemen, is intelligent life who have mastered space travel beyond our sense of comprehension." He flipped to the next slide. "How sure am I that it is intelligent life, I sent out a signal of that frequency," the number was plastered at the top of the slide with prime numbers underneath, "and they are prime numbers. What's special about them? They are special because sending them prime numbers, one of the few mathematical constants that don't occur as often in nature as say the golden ratio or the Fibonacci sequence, makes a perfect sign of intelligent life. As for the frequency, it is called the hydrogen line, it is the EM radiation released by an electron in a hydrogen atom dropping an electron level, which is said to be the most likely used by non-terrestrials in a search for intelligence life, us, and vice-versa."

A member from CNN raised his finger. "And how do we know they are intelligent and it's not just bouncing back?"

"You see, we sent them the first twenty-five, and we received the next twenty-five back. To double check I sent another group of primes, this time, the next twenty, I got back next twenty after that back. This was done by them, I imagine, so we would no mistake them as echoes."

"How do you know you are telling the truth about this?" Asked and NBC journalist.

"I have the Prime Minister sharing a panel with me. That and your government confirmed it for us, pointing their orbit based camera satellites towards the predicted spot, they are all currently following the object as we speak, that and THEMIS recorded the disturbances and we have this amazing picture provided by NASA from the Low Reconnaissance Orbiter." He flicked the slide and showed the true scale of the ship, the large pockets of superheated metal glowing orange in patchy damaged shapes in its superstructure. "We thought you'd like that one. And since it is NASA, a public entity, these are all available on the internet for free. Have fun. As for what we can do? We can only wait, for now, I doubt a nuke is going to make anything better. So I would just suggest keeping calm and let us deal with it, after all, it will be landing in our waters.

"Meaning, your country will get all the benefits from it." Asked an ABC reporter.

The prime minister took this question. "No, we won't, under International Maritime Law and the Outerspace Treaty, this ship kind-of-sort-of comes under its own laws right now, well at least until it reaches British airspace and waters where is then subject to British laws and customs. And our government, for the time being, wishes not to rush this delicate situation, and if anyone or any nation tries to do anything rash against these foreigners, discussions will be had about the repercussions of those actions. And if, and it is a big if, we get access to say advanced technology, out nation will happily meet at the table with other nations, not just limited to out allies, to discuss what need to be done."

"So why does your country get control over it?" Asked a member from CCTV.

"The aforementioned discoverees are all British, work for British institutions, with British Citizenship, they found the object while in Britain with British-made and maintained equipment, this man made contact with them in Britain, they took the first pictures with a British built and owned satellite, they are landing in British waters, through British airspace, and will be met by British naval vessels with British personnel. Does that answer your question?" The defence minister offered. "And we don't control the situation, the situation is owned by the foreigners, they are the ones who hold the majority of the cards, we are just damage control for the world, and we will spearhead every and all things relating to this craft, it is clearly our jurisdiction until the government of this country says otherwise it will remain as so." He affirmed.

"Isn't this a job for the UN, not the UK?"

The Prime minister took this question. "Possibly, but definitely not now, anyone who tries to pass international law against us will just get vetoed. Simple as that, well at least until our government and the cabinet all agree. We will not leave the nations out the loop, we like our position in the world political and economic stage and we are not willing to risk it with some stupid and avoidable incident."

Sighing to himself. _Isn't this one already?_


	2. Newtons Third Law

**The State of Emergency**

C2:Newtons Third Law

 **28 September 2016 0730 hours (-2 20:23:45)(BST) / BBC Television Center, London, England, United Kingdom**

"For those who have only joined us, firstly, welcome, and secondly, earth shattering news was just released by the British Prime Minister, answering one of the greatest questions, are we alone in the Universe. The answer is a strong No."

"We turn to our North American Correspondent, Callum MacCormak, and our Defence Correspondent, Allen Grierson, for more information. Callum, what was the reaction like in Washington to this news?"

"Well with the White house is currently silent, though they have a conference scheduled for nine am BST or four pm EST. We strongly believe that this will be a response to the end of the current press conference. Though I do believe that Washington will be supportive of the UK as and Ally and a member of NATO. Though the President hasn't officially announced anything as of yet, both the Republican and Democratic governments have both released a storm of tweets, both in support and questioning of the British government."

"Has there been any news about mobilisation in the US, Canada, and Mexico?"

"As of now, the Pentagon has dropped from Defcom four to two. There will likely be no reaction until the speech in two hours time. Canada, on the other hand, has begun to mobilise its reservists."

"And Allen, what about the military here in the UK?"

"We are waiting for more information, though the MoD have released a statement calling for the full mobilisation of all the reserves for all the forces, including volunteer and sponsored reserves. In other words, we haven't been this mobilised since the second world war."

"And what is all being, or going to be done my the MoD?"

"Whats going to happen is cordon and contain. Whatever it is, when it lands the Navy will keep this ship quarantined. The marines CBRN units will be the first to enter the vessel. The RAF will provide ariel support for both land and sea. The army and RAF will be to move and protect civilian areas on the Irish sea. The army doing things such as building emergency flood protection for coastal areas, getting people evacuated with the help of the RAF, and containing all CBRN hazards that land on British soil. That, in a nutshell, is the predicted outcome."

"Could you explain to the viewers at home what CBRN is?"

"Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear. If we are dealing with an alien vessel, who knows what hitched a ride with them, these teams will be wearing state of the art protective clothing that will protect them from harmful contaminants, if there are any. Think Hazmat suits and or a non-pressurised space suit."

"So it may be dangerous?"

"It may be, it may not. The US quarantined their astronauts the first time they came back from the moon, we should do the same. But think it like this, if they can build a two-kilometre long spacecraft, I think they would have created alcohol gel, vaccines and basic sterilisation techniques."

"Callum, Allen, thank you very much for coming on this show, I will imagine we will be hearing from you soon.

 **28 September 2016 1000 hours (-2 17:53:43)(BST) / BBC Scotland Building, Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom**

 **[Transcript - BBC Radio News Scotland - 28/09/2016 10:00]**

 _ **Pre-recorded message:**_ "Welcome to the BBC Radio News Scotland with Greg Henderson. Today's headlines...

 _ **Greg Henderson:**_ "Aliens, 'fact not fiction', Prime Minister Naomi Gordon press conference on contact... Full mobilisation of all reservists... three days until the landing of an alien species... US President releases a statement... PM calls on a 'State of Emergency'...

 _Jingle - News theme BBC-RNS_

 _ **Greg Henderson:**_ "Welcome to BBC Radio News Scotland, with me Greg Henderson. ' _We are not alone in the universe'_ reports the government as of this morning after a British scientist by the name of Dr Harold Smith makes contact with an alien spacecraft early last night. The prime minister saying that the UK will head the dealings of the ship which lands in the Irish sea in the early hours of Saturday morning. The military is currently being deployed immediately in reaction. The US president has just released a statement, we turn to the BBC's North American Correspondent Callum McCormak who is currently in Washington DC. Callum, what is the current situation in DC?"

 _ **Callum McCormak:**_ "President had a few things to say, I will go over the main points in his brief. He has said, that as commander and chief, he will deploy the sixth fleet of the US Navy to help aid in controlling this situation if things go out of hand, he also wants the US to be co-piloting this operation with the UK as one of its closest allies, a response echoed by both the republican and democratic nominees for this election, though the republican nominee stated in a tweet this morning that quote 'The US is far better equipped to handle this delicate situation, having the largest military in the world'. The president continued also to say that it will be in the interests of both countries to have equal access to the ship, stating that 'the US has an industrial, scientific and economic stability, that the UK has lost stability from due to Brexit, that would make it beneficial for a close union to make this process as streamlined and efficient as possible.' Hew then went on to talk about setting up an international board, with the UK and US in veto power abilities, to deal with this situation."

 _ **Greg Henderson:**_ "So what reaction has this got from the government here in the UK?"

 _ **Callum McCormak:**_ "Well, I believe the government in the UK will be very reluctant to join up with the people over here. The Chinese and Russian governments have both stated that this is another attempt by the US to get a monopoly on new technology, to race ahead of its competitors with the Chinese saying 'at least Britain has a right to this technology'. If any nation is to be picked to 'co-pilot' this operation, in my guess it would be the Republic of Ireland, as the ship is predicted to cross Irish airspace and is likely to affect Irish coastline more than any country other than the UK."

 ** _Greg Henderson:_** "Thank you very much for coming on this morning."

 ** _Callum McCormak:_** "It's always a pleasure."

 ** _Greg Henderson:_** "Next on BBC Radio News Scotland, the effect of the Irish Sea Crisis on Brexit...

 **28 September 2016 1014 hours (-2 17:39:43)(BST) / M6 M** **otorway** **, Birmingham** **, England, United Kingdom**

The PM sat in the back of the car, she was furious. "That man, International Oversight Committee of the Irish Sea Crisis my ass. Do you know what crisis is in Chinese? Danger and opportunity, and I can see those people in the white house wanting to crawl all over this. They aren't even the one who have to deal with this when it all goes to pot, they are on the other side of the bloody planet. And that Republican nominee, wanting the US to take the lead, like hell they will, we will not have a military force take charge of operations on UK soil if I have anything to say about it, we will not lose our sovereignty over such a matter." She took a deep breath and turned to her secretary Charles Leith. "Tell our UN ambassador to veto anything that tries to take that ship out of our jurisdiction, no part of the UK will become a UN protectorate under my watch."

"Yes, ma'am." He said typing up an email. "What about the Irish?"

"The Irish." She groaned. "Yes, let's deal with the Irish at the moment, could you get the Irish PM on the phone?"

"Yes, ma'am." Lieth said, connecting her to the PM's secretary.

The line droned on speaker, to be immediately picked up. "Secretary Karren O'Reilly, Department of the Taoiseach."

"I would like to be put through to the PM, authorisation code..." she paused as she looked through the binder to her side. "Hotel, Three, Alpha, Lima, Four, Three, Oscar, Uniform, Kilo, Papa, Mike."

There was a pause at the end of the line. "Ma'am, I will put you through to Taoiseach O'Hara now." The line began to ring again.

"Prime Minister Gordon. I thought you would like to talk over President Oliver's speech."

"Cut the crap Cormac, I a speaking to you about this as this concerns the people of Ireland more than the people of the US, the craft does fly over Irish airspace does it not?"

"It does, and I imagine you want the Republic of Ireland to give a helping hand? Now, what would we gain from that Naomi?"

"Other than taking part in the most important mission in human history and the fact that you nation will be the second most affected by the coming events, cooperation at such a scale will be beneficial for both of our nations."

She could almost picture Cormac pinch the bridge of his nose as he sighed. "Okay. What should I propose to the Parliment?"

"The establishment of an Anglo-Irish Council on the Irish Sea Crisis or AICISC. A council designed to deal to streamline both military and civilian activities in regards to the vessel. The Irish and British shall be the first two members of the council, and the ones with veto power as we are the ones who are dealing with the vessel directly. Any other nation may join the Council, vote on matters, but if either the UK or Ireland say no, it is scrapped. only Britain and Ireland shall have access to ship directly and other nations have to apply to gain access to the ship, and then only civilians, the only military allowed in and around the vessel will be British or Irish. The UK and Ireland have full access to any technology gained, and we must share it between one another, other members of the council can work with tech but we can withhold information." She said. "Those are just the basics, the rest needs to be ironed out."

"My question is this. Why do you need Ireland on side? After all, we are gaining a lot of bonuses for something in UK waters?"

"Security. That's the answer, your nation can get within ten miles of the predicted landing site and still be in your own waters, and if you were to say let the USA have military access into those waters, well it puts a lot of pressure on my government. But also, it makes the UK look better if we are reaching out and making stronger bonds with other nations through international cooperation. With the MoU between the UK's Ministry and Irelands Department of Defence, we are in a good position to create this council."

"I'll run it through today as an emergency reaction bill. Though we need to have a good sit down and discuss this further once you are back in London."

"Good, I'll do the same on my side."

 **28 September 2016 1026 hours (-2 17:27:07)(BST)(1726 h** **ours EST)** **/ The** **oval office,** **the White H** **ouse,** **Washingt** **on D.C, The United States of America**

"President Oliver. The UK will never agree to this, you're more or less asking the international community to make the UK give up its sovereignty for US interests, this won't pass in UN, especially with the UK holding veto power as a permanent member of the UNSC."

"Sure, they may have their own seat in the UN security council, but that doesn't mean squat when faced sanctions from their largest trading partner outwith the EU, and the biggest single country. And if they don't start allowing other countries to benefit from whatever is on that ship, that means that other countries are likely to follow suit. The UK will be screwed. Hell if we just sanction, that is about fifteen percent of their yearly trade income lost, that's over sixty-five billion US dollars. They can't not listen to us."

"Sir this is madness, why would you destroy the UK's economy because they won't, and quite rightfully so, give _Y_ _ou_ what _Y_ _ou_ want?"

"Because, Secretary Haily, I need to do what I have to do to ensure the prosperity of this country, we are currently in a major energy crisis, we pollute the air we breathe and the water we drink, we are only just clambering out of a recession and we are currently seeing the biggest drought in US history. That vessel could very likely contain the secrets to fusion energy, a technology that is just beyond our grasp that would sort each of those aforementioned problems out."

"I am saying, as the Secretary of Defence, not to go ahead with this after the Zero. It will jeopardise the entire world economy, it's fragile enough after the recent economic bubble burst in China, the last thing we need is to declare war on our allies."

"Secretary Haily, I understand where your points are coming from, but I see that not outweighing the benefits of vessel control."

"I see." He sighed as he pushed himself up and smooth off his suit. "I will be on my way Mr President. I have to discuss the deployment of the Sixth Fleet with Fleet Admiral Jenson. Good day." He moved to the door and opened it before facing the president. "Do take my words seriously, because this will be all on your head." And with that he left the President with his thoughts.


	3. Back to Work

"Hey, people, listen up. We finally got orders." Said the foreman hopping out and onto the controls centre of the mobile sea oil platform.

"What is it, Derek! This better not be like the last ones we got, we had the gorilla two platforms half way into the North Sea when HQ changed their mind. Plus I'd rather watch the news." Grumbled the main site officer.

"Yeah, what gives?" Said another orange boiler suit clad rig operator.

"Maersk didn't give the order, the prime minister gave the order, all available rigs are to transport to the Irish Sea under the jurisdiction of her powers in the current state of emergency."

"Why do they need rigs?"

Derek held up the document and tapped it. "It says all three Dundee-based rigs will be used as staging areas and holding areas when dealing," he pointed to the twenty-four-hour news broadcast currently showing pictures of the object, "that."

The foreman was pretty sure he heard someone drop their mug of coffee.

"But we won't have time to get their I three days, never mind setting up and bridging all of the rigs together."

"They are sending down the buoyant rigs from the North Sea to be the initial rig staging areas, we are coming through to beef up offshore military and scientific presence. Plus unlike the buoyant platforms, we definitely won't be able to handle that wave when the object hits."

"So what will be our job one we get to our location anyway?" Ask per the operator.

"Glad you asked John... Let me see..." He flicked through the pages and found the page. "Ah yes, we will be, with help from salvage teams and offshore construction teams, both navy and civilian, dismantling all oil related parts of the platform and begin extending the platform to accommodate more people with the aim of creating a semi-self sufficient platform for military operations, scientific research and a hub for journalists. So as of fifteen minutes ago, we are no longer 'Maersk oil platform Gorilla Seven' rather we are, I shit you not, 'Her Majesty's Forward Operating Platform AICISC Bravo One" or codenamed 'Silverback'."

 **www..BBC.c** **o..uk** **/news/UK_Irish_Sea_Crisis_21**

 _2 minutes ago_ | _Irish Sea Crisis_ | _10:45am_

This morning the Rowen Noway, and Gorilla Five and Seven have left the Port of Dundee today. They are the latest vessels commandeered by the British government, via the powers granted by the current state of emergency, in preparation for the first contact scenario.

This may not come to much surprise as vessels from all over the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland have begun assembling in the predicted landing spot. With tankers and freighter vessels being moved to act as floating bases of operations for the military. In fact, Stena Line and P&O have voluntarily allowed the Royal Navy to use their ships the day before and after Zero (what the social media has come to name the landing time of the Object).

But ships and oil rigs aren't the only things being taken over by the military as now the Mull of Galloway, the southernmost point in Scotland and the closest part of the mainland to the site, as a temporary army base. The popular tourist attraction has, in the last three hours, had the arrival of civilian temporary building contractors who have begun setting up portacabins under the watchful eyes of army reservists from Dumfries and Galloway.

The Ministry of Defence has relatively been open to questioning about how they are going about the situation, stating that the seventy-first regiment of the Royal Corps of Engineers will begin construction of defensive structures and storage space for vehicles, including a rushed construction of a runway for the RAF, while 6 Scots will be creating and protecting a two mile press only radius perimeter around the famous lighthouse as well, as a no-go area on the micro-peninsula that the lighthouse sits upon.

They have also decided to set up a press station in the campsite of Maryport. But just down the road in Drummore there are plans for a decontamination and land-based research facility is to be built as well as it quay, along with Port Logan's and Portpatrick's, are to be utilised by Marines and the Navy for amphibious, destroyers and light water craft.

The ports at Cairnryan, Stranraer, Belfast and Larne are now officially Royal Naval Bases and are being used as facilities to store munitions, fuel, rations as well as ports to dock up large numbers of Naval vessels. The land around some of these ports is being repurposed to be barracks, admin centres, research facilities, and press centres.

A local Stranraer resident stated. "I am confused by all of this sudden militarisation, one day I am living a perfectly normal day, nothing too strange, the next thing I know, there are planes in the sky, and soldier and armoured vehicles in the street. It feels like we have suddenly been thrust into some global war and there is nothing we can do about it."

With so much disbelief in the street of Stranraer at current events, it only echo's what the rest of the country feels. We live in uncertain times, but at least it is comforting to know that our government and military are doing all they can to keep the UK safe.

For more information in regards to this story, follow the new BBC Irish Sea Crisis Twitter and Facebook, or follow me JillianMacintyre for more updates on the story.

Harry walked briskly down the corridors of his office at the JBO towards the main array control centre. For the first time in as long as he could remember, there were more than five people in this usually desolate office, he slid through the door into his working space and where Michael was waiting for him, tea in hand. "Thanks, Mike."

"No problem mate. How did the press conference go?" He asked out of politeness, already knowing. "No issues I hope."

"Other than being swarmed by literal droves of reporters, yeah all went awfully peachy, though I doubt I will have a private moment in my life ever again. Good god, did you see all of the reporters outside, even at the main gates of the complex?"

"Not really, the air force has this place on lock. They even sent in special forces to protect the perimeter."

"What!"

"Yeah, I was chatting to one of the SAS reservists… Milroy, Milton… I don't know, one of the two. Yeah, the entire country is going into a lockdown and we are in the middle of it."

"Great, we are stuck in some shitty State of Emergency situation for at least a month or two."

"I know, it's kind of shitty, but it is what it is, plus you are scientific royalty now." He said plopping himself down next to a monitor showing the current predicted path. "I believe that history will forever remember you, hell you will probably get a Nobel Prize or something."

Harry placed himself slowly down behind his own monitor. "So have we had any new information regarding the object while I was at the conference centre?"

"Only that it's got closer."

"How about this then. We make video contact?"

"How do you think we would go about that then?"

"Well… Think about making a screen that is has a prime number length and a prime number with a white border to make sure that they align the picture correctly, and we record a video of us waving or some shit like that, maybe hold up a sign like 'Hello', but in a multitude of languages."

"Look at mister ambassador."

"Shut up, dick."

"Someone's pissy."

"Hey, I have had little to no sleep. I can be." Harry crossed his eyes.

"So have I, so can it," Michael said, sticking out his tongue. "And in regards to the video idea, I think we should get some professional help, the last thing we need is to start and interstellar incident because we got across the wrong image."

"We could always just send up the images that were attached to the voyager spacecraft."

"Now, that makes sense. But let us just compile a number of modern analogues to each type of photo, the ones that were on voyager were a little out-dated."

"Okay, say we were to do that. How would we go about it in a way that would represent people around the world and not just the UK?"

Mike laughed. "Do you remember Boaty McBoat Face?"

"You want to do a poll? On the Internet? You do realise that would lead the universe to believe that we get our reproductive organs out from some ape deity who was shot in an American zoo."

"Sure why not." He chuckled. "We could always ask each country around the world to submit fifteen images that represent their country. As well as a number of images of earth, humanity, life on earth, science, religion, war, peace, the whole shebang. Put in the fall of the Berlin Wall, Tiananmen Square, world war two and the United Nations. Let's show them the most important moments in our recorded history. Then we compile them all into one stream and ship them off digitally."

"But let's also put in an image of us finding the vessel in there. It's on CCTV."

"You clever little bastard."

"Hey, we did discover them after all. I think we have right to."

"Is this for you to stroke your ego."

"You're up for it aren't you?"

"Your god damn right I am."

 **Lunch o'clock with Frank Davis - BBC Radio Two - 88-91 FM UK – 11:00 am**

 _Frank Davis_ : "Welcome ladies and gentlemen to the Lunch o'clock with Callum Davis on BBC Radio Two, on Eighty Eight to Ninety One FM."

 _Jingle - Lunch o'clock_

 _Frank Davis:_ "Good Morning, good morning! What a time it is to be alive, though writing for today's show has been more than interesting, and has led me to become a favourite customer at my local Costa. Other coffee shops are available. This week has been an explosive one for the world, to say the least, with the first presidential debate for the US this year, the re-election of the British Labour Party leader and more fluctuations in the post-Brexit pound. But we all know what the biggest story is this morning, and possibly in our lifetime. Bigger than landing on the moon, or the first and second world war. You know all about it if you have seen, watched or listened to the news, or even just browsed social media a little bit today. You all know what it is. Aliens!"

 _Jingle – X-files_

 _Frank Davis:_ "But more on that story later, I am here today with a live interview with Professor Geoff Renolds, the man in charge of the Manchester University's Department of Astrophysics. He is one of the most prestigious members of the British Science community, working on many international projects such as SETI and helped the US team in the discovery of Gravitational waves. Good Morning Professor."

 _Geoff Renolds: "_ Good Morning Frank, and please, call me Geoff."

 _Frank Davis:_ "No problem. So, Geoff, you are the one who headed the team who made this discovery."

 _Geoff Renolds:_ "I sure am. I was the one in charge of all the MERLIN radio telescope systems around the country, including the Jodrell Bank where the first contact was made. As the team head, I am the one who represents the team as a whole."

 _Frank Davis:_ "So how much work have you done with the Jodrell team?"

 _Geoff Renolds:_ "Loads, I have to do check ups, review their data, make sure everything is A okay. In fact, I reviewed the data that truly discovered that the famous 'blip' was not, in fact, a glitch."

 _Frank Davis:_ "So you claim to be one of the main contributors to the discovery?"

 _Geoff Renolds:_ "I wouldn't quite say that, but I did do my fair share of work. In fact, I wish to aid my teams further by taking full control over the MERLIN and helping coordinate with the British Government on what steps to take."

 _Frank Davis:_ "So what makes you the most qualified on your team?"

 _Geoff Renolds:_ "Other than my work with SETI, I have dealt with government officials and heads of business for many a reason. As faculty head, it is something I have to do all the time."

 _Frank Davis:_ "I see, well let's get some questions from the audience. So text us at 88291, or email us at BBCR2LunchTime .uk."

"Wing Commander Anders to Prestwick Control requesting permission for Lossiemouth Wing to land. Over"

"Prestwick Control to Wing Commander Anders, permission granted. Designated runway, 03/21. Over."

"Copy Prestwick control. Landing 03/21, crosswinds? Over."

"Not applicable. Green across the board. Over.

"Anders out," he said, as his Typhoon Eurofighter began to bank towards the runway. He changed the channel to the three Squadron Leaders flying with him. "All Squadrons are clear to land. Begin decent on runway 03/21. Over."

"Copy, sir, beginning approach now. Shall we start notifying squadron members? Over."

"Go ahead. Over."

"Copy sir. Out." The three squadron leaders announced. The sound of static could be heard as they changed the channel. It didn't take long for the air wing to fall into line, with Anders being the final person to make it ground side. He brought his vehicle up to one of the patches large swaths of asphalt that held the rest of the Air Wing. The rest of the wing had started to disembark from their vehicles by the time his aircraft was starting to get sorted out by the ground crew. The squadron leaders had begun to line up their individual teams into their respective flights.

When Anders finally made his way over to the three squadrons, Squadron Leader Cook shouted. "Number six squadron, squadron-shun."

Followed by a shout from Squadron Leader Bertram. "Number two squadron, squadron-shun."

And finally, Squadron Leader Hair shouted. "Number one squadron, squadron-shun."

The three turned to face the Wing Commander and saluted. Anders saluted back. "Squadron Leaders, stand them at ease."

The officers turned back to face their squadrons and shouted. "Squadron, stand at, ease." There was a satisfying single sound as all the pilots in the nine groups of four came to ease in perfect, drilled in, synchronisation.

"Stand easy." He said, the airmen all physically relaxing. "Now, you may be asking. What is the reason for our sudden and unprecedented relocation in the south west of Scotland? Why are we stuck in a second-rate airport in Ayrshire?" He looked at their faces; most of them hadn't had a chance to check the news yet, for they only knew that they were being deployed for a long period. "Right now, the United Kingdom and its territories are under a State of Emergency. And for the record we are not at war, at least not yet anyway. We are here to support the puddle pirates and ground-pounders in what could be best described as a poor attempt at a FanFiction." This got a few grins and sniggers from his men. "I am not going to say anything, you wouldn't believe me if I told you. I want you all to turn on the radio, the TV or check the Internet for anything relating to 'The Irish Sea Crisis'. We will be doing patrols in the area north of Ireland until we begin an escort mission on Friday. They are all the orders for until October first so that means squadrons will be doing shifts, six-hour rotations starting with Sixth Squadron at 1500 hours," he checked his watch, "which is four hours from now. So get you admin sorted." He turned to the squadron leaders. "Fall them out."

"Squadron, Squadron-shun." The officer shouted. "Officer on parade, fall, out!"


End file.
